 The post-primary Alternative Pathway Program, or PAP, is designed to provide students with additional support and adaptive educational methods beyond the primary school, which will cater to their unique educational needs. The initiative, spearheaded by the Department of Education, Innovation, and Vocational Training, is being realized through funding from the St. Lucia Social Development Fund, DSSDF, in partnership with the Center for Adolescent Renewal and Education Limited, or CARE. Education Officer for Special Education, Dale Sashis, who formed part of a team providing information on the program to parents of potential recipients, says the ministry used the Special Education Unit to help select the students through a careful and comprehensive evaluation process. So, we have investigated the level of intelligence, speech and language, academic performances, such as reading abilities, ability to do mathematics. There is a comprehensive report available on each of these students. We know exactly the levels of functioning that they have, and that gives us information to suggest what is possible for them going forward, and the assessment report that we have will be made available to the learning institution that they will be going on to, so that the teacher who will be working with them, who, by the way, is a highly trained special education specialist, who will be giving targeted assistance and guidance to them so that they can experience the maximum chance of success. The four-year pilot project is targeting 13 male students initially through the SSTF-funded scholarships. Mr. Sashis says males are most likely to fall through the cracks, as such unique approaches must be instituted to meet their needs to help transform their present situation. However, these are students who can learn if they are given a different opportunity, a different set of options from what is typically available in the secondary schools. So what we have is a post-primary alternative pathway for that particular group of students who are more likely to complete that program than they are likely to complete the secondary school program. The project will officially commence within a week in this third academic term of the 2021-2022 school year. During this period, students accepted into the program will undergo an induction process ahead of regular classes. Managing Director of the Center for Adolescent Renewal and Education Limited or Care, Kathleen Mason says the training will be centered on the technical and vocational interests of the students in order to help build confidence and ensure their continued participation in the program. Not only will they be given the opportunity to develop themselves in the junior life program because that's what they're going to be engaged in first, but they will also be given the opportunity to develop themselves in an income-bearing skill. And so for us it is a real exciting beginning. Care on Tuesday 26th April 2022 celebrated its 29th anniversary of providing marginalized adolescents with vocational skills for life. The school, which was created by the presentation protest, opened its doors in 1993. Miss Mason says one of the continued challenges is the public's view of the school as being an institution solely created for academically challenged children. But far from that, it is for persons who need to have a more practical way of developing, who engage more practically than theoretically. And so it allows, as I said, all our children, no matter where they are, what their goal is, the opportunity for growth and development. It is believed that the introduction of the post-Primary Alternative Pathway Program PAP will contribute to the Department of Education's progress in attaining sustainable development goal for quality education in support of the Education 2030 Agenda, leaving no one behind, which promotes education for all in the development of a more inclusive society. From the Communications Unit of the Ministry of Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology and Vocational Training, I am Chris Satney reporting.